It has been a month since Maisy moved in, and it has been a whirlwind of activity around here. There has hardly been a minute to do anything but ensuring that all of the kids were taken care of. Right now, two of the kids are in the pool, three are in bed, two are at camp, and two are with Dad. I am sitting in a quiet room and it has given me a few moments to reflect on this past month.
Maisy is such a blessing. She is incredibly delightful and good natured. She met her new pediatrician for the first time on Friday and smiled and laughed throughout the whole visit. Considering she has had just about every body part operated on in her 20 months of life, that is pretty amazing.
Maisy has a pacemaker due to multiple heart conditions that required immediate surgery after birth. She was born with a skull deformity that required a reconstruction of her cranium. She still has a very large soft spot in the back of her head. She was born with an imperforate anus requiring multiple surgeries to correct this issue. She has the clear facial features of a child with FAS. She has a GJ tube so that she can tolerate her feedings. And as if this were not enough, she has a tracheostomy that allows her to breath with a ventilator. And she still smiles....and smiles....and smiles.
Maisy learns so fast! I can teach her a sign and she learns it after only a few introductions. She probably has 100 signs by now. She has a valve that can be placed on her trach that allows her to learn to speak (the valve allows air to pass over her vocal chords.) She says "hi" and "Daddy" and loves to hear herself babble. She is very bonded to Mom and Dad and will sign "I love you" to us across the backyard when she spots us.
This little one is such an incredible inspiration. She has been through so much...not only her medical issues but social history issues as well..she has had to fight on her own with out birth parents to fight for her. She had to say good bye to her foster family...but now she is home. She has her forever family and she knows it. She cries when we leave the room. She waits for us to come back and it is clear that she is bonded to her big brothers and sisters. Each one of the kids has developed a special relationship with her. It is so beautiful to watch a family come together to graft a new member in..as if she had been with us forever...
"Courage"--that's the word that comes to mind when I think of Maisy. She has been through so much and yet she wasn't afraid to love again. She hasn't held back anything--just what we needed as we faced caring for a child on a ventilator again after having lost Evan 3 years ago...
She was just what we didn't know we needed yet again...
What a privilege it is to be beautiful Maisy Grace's Mom...I must be the luckiest Mom in the world. What a blessing it has been to have stepped out on a limb and trusted that God knew what he was doing when he called us to adopt again...He has blessed us beyond our imagination..
